Smoke filled the east hallway.
Someone had started a fire near the security room.
Not to burn down the mansion.
To destroy the servers.
Security cameras.
Digital records.
Evidence.
Ethan pulled Nora through the corridor.
"Stay with me."
"I need to get home."
"Absolutely not."
"The music box —"
"Victor knows who you are. Marcus may know what your mother hid. Going home alone is exactly what they expect."
"Then come with me."
He stopped.
Nora met his eyes.
For half a second, neither moved.
Then Ethan reached into his pocket and handed her his car keys.
"Underground garage. Black Range Rover."
They made it three steps before Adrian collapsed behind them.
"Dad?"
Ethan spun around.
Adrian gripped the wall.
His face had gone gray.
Nora ran back.
"What happened?"
Adrian tried to answer but his knees buckled.
Ethan caught him.
Dr. Mercer appeared from the smoke-filled hallway.
"Get him down."
They lowered Adrian to the floor.
The doctor checked his pulse.
Then looked sharply at the glass of water on the table beside the study door.
"Did he drink this?"
Ethan's face hardened.
"Yes."
Nora looked at the water.
A second attempt.
The wine had failed.
So someone had tried again.
Marcus was gone.
So was Victor.
Twenty minutes later Adrian was on his way to the hospital under armed guard.
Ethan stood outside the ambulance.
Rain soaked his shirt.
Nora approached.
"He'll survive," she said.
The doctor had already told him that.
But Ethan nodded anyway.
For the first time since she met him, the mask cracked.
"I nearly lost him twice tonight."
Nora said nothing.
Ethan looked at her.
"You saved him the first time."
"I happened to see something."
"You could have stayed quiet."
"I almost did."
"But you didn't."
Rain ran down Nora's face.
"My mother stayed quiet about something for too long."
Ethan shook his head.
"I don't think she stayed quiet."
Nora looked at him.
"I think she tried to expose them."
He stepped closer.
"And I think whatever she hid in that music box is the reason they're afraid of you."
Nora's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
DON'T GO HOME.
A second message appeared.
Too late.
A photograph loaded.
Nora's apartment door.
Open.
Ethan looked over her shoulder.
Then another image arrived.
Her music box sitting on her kitchen table.
The lid was open.
A final message appeared.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
Nora looked at Ethan.
"Now what?"
His expression turned cold.
"Now we stop reacting."
He took the phone from her hand.
"And start hunting them."
